Robert Mandan Movies

Inasmuch as National Lampoon magazine was on its last legs in 1994, the title National Lampoon's Last Resort was all too prophetic. The film takes place at, yes, a summer resort, which is threatened with extinction by (in unison, please) Evil Land Developers. Can the Corey boys -- Haim and Feldman -- save the camp? You might get some incidental fun by predicting precisely when the first bathroom joke is about to occur (it doesn't take long). Unlike previous National Lampoon features, Last Resort went direct to video. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this spoof of The X-Files, a mysterious stranger (Robert Mandan) offers Al (Ed O'Neill) $50,000 to help him locate Jefferson D'Arcy (Ted McGinley)--not exactly a daunting assignment, since Jefferson has been living next door to Al for nearly two years. And the reason behind the Stranger's interest? Well, it might be that Jefferson was telling the truth to his wife Marcy (Amanda Bearse) when he claimed that he was once an espionage agent and master of disguise (Peter Lawford was one of his best "covers"!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Hypnotic regression prompts a pair of sisters to recognize that they've been abducted by aliens. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

The Case of the Lost Love was the fourth of the Perry Mason TV movies of the 1980s. Raymond Burr plays Mason (you're surprised?), who while out of town at a lawyer's conference is reunited with Jean Simmons, his lady friend of 30 years past. Simmons has come up in the world, and is about to be nominated for the US senate. Unfortunately, her husband Gene Barry is accused of murdering a blackmailer. The lack of surprise in the denouement is compensated for by the pathos and emotionalism in the final scenes. Back from the previous Mason films is Barbara Hale as Della Street, and Hale's son William Katt as Paul Drake Jr. Despite stiff competition from the Audrey Hepburn-Robert Wagner TV movie Love Among Thieves, Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love swept the ratings when it premiered on February 23, 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Bender directed this made-for-TV romance about an attorney (John Ritter) who falls for his firm's latest hire, a woman 15 years older than he. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

This 1981 sequel to the 1979 made-for-TVer Goldie and the Boxer once again stars O.J. Simpson and Melissa Michaelsen as, respectively, boxer Joe Gallegher and Joe's 10-year-old manager Goldie Kellog. When Joe incurs the wrath of an evil promoter, he and Goldie high-tail it to Hollywood. They take refuge in the home of Babe (Stubby Kaye) and Cuddles (Sheila MacRae) a pair of Tinseltown "fringies" distantly related to Joe's trainer Wally (Jack Gilford, taking over for the first film's Phil Silvers). Produced by Orenthal Productions (guess who ran that company?), Goldie and the Boxer Go to Hollywood first aired February 19, 1981. It has been rerun incessantly since June of 1994, thanks to the latter-day notoriety of star O. J. Simpson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The death of Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) was the big shocker at the end of Soap's third season. So imagine everyone's surprise when, as the series launched season four, Jessica was brought back to life -- following a brief stopover in Heaven to commiserate with all her ex-lovers! In another dangling plot strand resolved by the fourth-season opener, Jessica's son, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio), is rescued from the bullet fired by his scorned lover, Leslie Walker (Marla Pennington). Additionally, the Tates have acquired a new butler named Saunders (Roscoe Lee Browne), replacing their former retainer Benson (actor Robert Guillaume had of course left Soap to star in his own sitcom, titled -- you guessed it -- Benson). The many subplots wending their way through the series' final network season include the election of Jessica's brother-in-law, Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan), as sheriff leading to Burt's run-in with mob-connected hooker Gwen (Jesse Welles) -- with whom Burt's stepson, Danny (Ted Wass), becomes enamored. Also highlighted are the long-delayed wedding of Jessica's daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt) and ex-convict Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes); the long, anguished search by Danny's brother, Jodie (Billy Crystal), for his missing daughter; and Jessica's abduction to South America, where she falls in love with revolutionary leader El Puerco (Gregory Sierra), culminating in her divorce from Chester (Robert Mandan). As in previous years, season four of Soap ends with a cliffhanger as Jessica Tate faces a South American firing squad. This time, however, there was to be no resolution -- the series had been canceled! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When Soap arrived at its cliffhanging season-two finale, Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) was trying to choose between her husband Chester (Robert Mandan) and a detective named Donahue; Jessica's son Billy (Jimmy Baio) was in the clutches of a religious cult called the "Sunnies"; and Jodie's step-father (and Jessica's brother-in-law) Burt Campbell (Richard Mulligan) had been abducted by space aliens. Season Three finds Billy being rescued from the Sunnies by Jessica's butler Benson (Robert Guillaume), while an alien clone of Burt moves into the Campbell home undetected -- much to the delight of Burt's spouse Mary (Cathryn Damon), who immensely enjoys the vast improvement in her sex life! In other developments, Jessica's daughter Eunice (Jennifer Salt) is getting tired of life on the run with her escaped-con husband Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes); Eunice's sister Corrine (Diana Canova) is just about fed up with her do-nothing husband, ex-priest Father Tim; Jodie's gangster brother Danny (Ted Wass) is saved from mob retribution by a girl named Millie (Candy Azzara), but ultimately forges a new romance with a black girl named Polly Dawson (Lynne Moody); Jessica decides to forgive Chester, only to have him cheat on her again; "Alien Burt" impregnates Mary, and later "Real Burt" runs for sheriff; Mary's gay son Jodie (Billy Crystal) launches a few more "straight" relationships; and Benson leaves the employment of the Tate family (a move necessitated by actor Robert Guillaume's defection to his own sitcom titled -- what else? -- Benson). This season's 60-minute cliffhanger finale finds Danny proposing to Polly, Jodie fighting for custody of the son born to him by Carol David, and Mary trying to figure out how to tell Burt that her baby is not his; and, after a lengthy illness, Jessica Tate dies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The cliffhanger that brought season one of Soap to a climax is resolved in season two when Jessica Tate (Katherine Helmond) is cleared of the murder of her lover (and step-nephew!) Peter Campbell. Jessica's husband, Chester (Robert Mandan), confesses to the crime whereupon he is convicted and sent to prison. Later on, Chester escapes with fellow con Dutch (Donnelly Rhodes), who, while holding the Tate family hostage, sleeps with Jessica's far-from-unwilling daughter, Eunice (Jennifer Salt), leading to an elopement. As for Eunice's daughter Corrinne (Diana Canova), she marries defrocked priest Father Tim (Sal Viscusco), with whom she has a child -- who, alas, is possessed by Satan!. Still later, Chester loses his memory and wanders westward, ultimately getting a job as a fry cook. To find her missing husband, Jessica hires Detective Donahue (John Byner), with whom she falls in love! Meanwhile, Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal), the gay son of Jessica's sister, Mary Campbell (Cathryn Damon), opts to give women a try and to that end moves in with Carol David (Rebecca Balding) -- who happens to be carrying Jodie's baby. Later on, Jodie will have a fling with a sucidal lesbian named Alice (Randee Heller). Elsewhere, Jodie's mobster brother, Danny (Ted Wass), forced into a relationship with Mafia daughter Elaine (Dinah Manoff), tries to figure out various ways of getting rid of her. But when Elaine is kidnapped and subsequently killed, a heartbroken Danny swears vengeance. And what of Danny and Jodie's stepfather, Burt (Richard Mulligan)? Well, he has his hands full trying to convince his family that he has seen a UFO. As season two rushes to a close, Jessica Tate is compelled to choose between hubby Chester and Detective Donahue, Billy Tate (Jimmy Baio) is being held captive by a religious cult called the "Sunnies," and befuddled Burt is abducted by those "non-existent" aliens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The endless intrigues (sexual and otherwise) involving the Campbells and the Tates are already up and running as the satirical sitcom Soap launches its first season. By the time episode one has faded from view, the audience is aware that blowhard businessman Chester Tate (Robert Mandan) is cheating on his wife, Jessica (Katherine Helmond); that Jessica herself is fooling around with studdish tennis instructor Peter (Robert Urich), who in turn is sleeping with Jessica's daughter, Corrinne (Diana Canova); that Corrinne's brother, Billy (Jimmy Baio), is nervously anticipating his first score -- er, first date; that Billy's other sister Eunice (Jennifer Salt) is the only member of the family who isn't sex-obsessed; and that Jessica's senile father, "The Major" (Arthur Pierson), is still reliving the horrors of WW2 -- with a bit of prodding from the family's sneering butler, Benson (Robert Guillaume). Meanwhile, Jessica Tate's sister, Mary Dallas Campbell (Cathryn Damon), is having troubles of her own with her blue-collar second husband Burt Campbell (Robert Mulligan) and her sons, mobster Danny Dallas (Ted Wass) and homosexual Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) (it is revealed that Mary's first husband officially committed suicide, but that Mary "helped" his demise along). In future episodes, we learn that tennis pro Peter is the son of Burt Campbell; that a contract has been taken out on Burt, and Danny is to be the hit man; that Jodie is contemplating a sex change operation; and that Corrine is having an affair with an ex-priest. We are also introduced to "mob daughter" Elaine Lefkowitz (Dinah Manoff), whom Danny is forced to marry if he wants to save his skin. Season one ends on a cliffhanger with Jessica being arrested for, and convicted of, the murder of Peter Campbell -- but the series' narrator assures us that she didn't do it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kojak (Telly Savalas) is certain that he has finally nailed an elusive heroin dealer when the man is accused of shooting and killing a prominent plastic surgeon. Problem is, the victim may have already been dead when the dealer shot him. Once it is determined that the surgeon did not die of natural causes, Kojak is faced with two unpleasant possibilities: His prize suspect could be entirely innocent, and there may be another, even more slippery murderer on the loose. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Author William F. Nolan and producer/director Dan (Dark Shadows) Curtis combined forces for the made-for-TV The Norliss Tapes. Roy Thinnes stars as Dan Norliss, an investigative reporter specializing the supernatural. Norliss' tapes consist of his observations when tracking down a report about a "walking dead man." As it happens, the tapes seem to be all that is left of Norliss, who has completely disappeared. The Norliss Tapes was the pilot for a series which failed to secure a network slot (perhaps no one wanted a program with a nonexistent hero!). An earlier failed attempt by Curtis to build a series around a paranormal investigator resulted in the 1969 pilot In the Dead of Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide